End of the Road 2017 pics (Father John Misty, Mac DeMarco, Waxahatchee, more)

‘So how many of you have visited the existential cafe?” Father John Misty, fountain of surrealist stage banter, is working his charms on the End of the Road crowd. “We’ll be there later,” he adds. “I’m doing a seminar on alpaca shaving.” In his previous incarnation as an emotionally fragile singer-songwriter, Josh Tillman would have made a solid afternoon fixture on a woodland stage at this beloved Wiltshire festival. Reborn as Father John Misty, he’s a show-stealer: a theatrical cynic and apocalyptic oracle of indeterminate sincerity. He’s also incorrigibly irreverent, and likely the festival season’s only headliner to introduce a rousing folk-rock anthem with a rambling ode to Gore-Tex boots.

The anthem in question, While You’re Smiling and Astride Me, spotlights Tillman’s penchant for melodramatic self-satire (“You see me as I am, it’s true / Aimless fake drifter and the horny manchild momma’s boy to boot”), though not all his lines land. One effect of his impassioned irony is that, when he really goes for it, all beseeching arms and grandiose postures, you don’t always go with him. - [The Guardian]

Now in its 12th year, UK festival End of the Road, with its verdant setting (Larmer Tree Gardens), finely-tuned curation and general laid back vibe, has become the festival of choice for a lot people (like those who do not like festival).. This year's fest took place August 31 - September 3 and saw sets from Father John Misty, Mac DeMarco, Waxahatchee, Slowdive, The Moonlandingz, Jesus & Mary Chain, Amadou and Mariam, Aldous Harding, Real Estate, Foxygen, Alex Cameron, Baxter Dury, Girl Ray, and lots more. Check out pictures from throughout the whole festival in the gallery above